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Decoding the letter A
|IPA phoneme \ \|care /k r/}} In Received Pronunciation and in General American the letter A (lowercase a', pronounced '/eɪ/), as most vowel letters in English, has four main pronunciations: *So-called “short a”, IPA phoneme /æ/, as in trap, bat, batting, rapid, ask, bath or marry. :Short a spelling, IPA phoneme /ɑː/ (broad a) as in ask or bath. *So-called “long a”, IPA phoneme /eɪ/, as in face, facing or famous *Long "ar" monophtong (short vowel spelling), IPA phoneme /ɑː/, as in start, bar or barred *Long "ar" diphthong (long vowel spelling), IPA phoneme / /, as in square, care, caring or parent It also can be pronounced /ɑː/ as in father and as in all — plus other, less common pronunciations, sometimes in combination with other letters, and, of course, it can be used as schwa. Distinctions by dialect Two important sounds of the letter A are /æ/ and /ɑː/. Some words that are pronounced with /æ/ in General American (e.g. bath /bæθ/ ) are pronounced with /ɑː/ in Received Pronunciation (bath /bɑːθ/ ). However most native British English speakers do, in fact, pronounce them with /æ/. Another difference between American English and British English is the Mary-marry-merry merger. Here we present only the differences with respect to the letter A. As /æ/ See main article IPA phoneme /æ/. See also So-called “short a” and Decoding and spelling exercises: /æ/ vs /eɪ/. *before final consonants: am, and, at, back, bad, bag, bat, cat, fan, ham, hand, land, man, map, sand, stand *before double consonant or "ck": att'a'''ck, battle, carry, cattle, channel, gallery, gr'a'mmar, happen, happy, jacket, passenger, traffic *before single consonant: '''a'verage, b'a'''lance, d'a'mage, family, have, J'a'nuary, m'a'nage, n'a'tional, n'a'tural, value *other: '''a'bsolutely, a'ctually, angry, aspect, capture, contract, factor, handle, transport As /ɑː/ ''See main article Phoneme /ɑː/ in Received Pronunciation. Most words in this section are pronounced with /æ/ in General American, unless they are followed by "r". *before f'', ''n, s'' and ''th :before final consonants: ask, bath, branch, can't, chance, command, dance, demand, fast, France, glance, grant, half, implant, last, mask, past, path, plant, staff, task :before double consonant: class, giraffe, glass, pass, staffer :other: advantage, after, answer, ban'a'''na, basket, pastor, rather *before other consonants (''m): example, panorama, sample '''Pronounced /ɑː/ also in General American: *calm, dr'a'''ma, fac'a'de, father, ko'a'la, l'a'ma, ll'a'ma, nuance, palm, spa *before r: are, art, car, card, carpet, dark, far, garden, large, market, park, part, scar, scarf, start As /eɪ/ ''See main article IPA phoneme /eɪ/. See also So-called “long a” and Decoding and spelling exercises: /æ/ vs /eɪ/. * with magic e: ache, age, bake, blame, brake, cake, date, escape, fake, game, gate, hake, lake, late, male, make, name, pale, plate, sale, same, sane, shake, snake, stale, state, take, trade, wake, whale * before single consonant: behavior, behaviour, education, information, label, nature, paper, patient * Other: able, ancient, arrange, change, fragrance, range, strange, table As /ɔ:/ See main article IPA phoneme /ɔː/ See also Decoding exercises: "al" *before final "ll": all, ball, call, fall, hall, small, tall *before /l/: already, also, almost, always, alter, salt *after "w": walk, wall, war, ward, water *other: chalk, talk As /ɒ/ See main article IPA phoneme /ɒ/. *as /ɒ/: quality, restaur'a'''nt, wander, , wasp, watch *as /ɒ/, /ɔː/ : wallet, want, warrant, warranty, wash As /ə/ ''See main article IPA phoneme /ə/. *weak forms: a, am, can, shall, than *at beginning :verbs: acquire, admire, afford, agree, allow, appeal, appear, approach, arise, arrive :nouns: accord, account, amount, appeal, approach :other: about, above, across, again, against, ago, alone, among, another, around, available, away *at end: Africa, African, America, American, camera, China, data, extra, human, idea, India, Indonesia, legal, local, organ, several, woman *as part of suffix -able: capable, comfortable, likable, likeable, probable, suitable, variable *as part of suffix -ate /ə/ or /ɪ/: chocolate, climate, fortunate, immediate, private *other: Can'a'''da, company, organise, relative As /ɪ/ ''See main article IPA phoneme /ɪ/ *furnace, octave, orange, spinach *ending in -'a'''ge: advantage, average, beverage, image, language, manage, percentage, village As /ɪ/ or /ə/ The words in this section appear with /ɪ/ in some dictionaries and with /ə/ in others. *accessible,Merriam Webster's Learner's Dictionary, accessible with /ɪ/.''Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. accessible with /ə/. char'a'''cter,Collins English Dictionary, character with /ɪ/.Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, character with /ə/. chocolate,''Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. chocolate with /ɪ/.Merriam Webster's Learner's Dictionary, chocolate with /ə/. extrav'a'''gant,Merriam Webster's Learner's Dictionary, extravagant with /ɪ/.Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, extravagant with /ə/. indiscriminate, mass'a'cre, obstacle, receptacle Silent "a" *automatic'a'lly, basic'a'lly, dramatic'a'lly, logically, romantic'a'lly, specifically, typically :Exceptions: "cally" as /kəliː/: locally, vocally *varisyllabic words: Barb'a'ra, boundary, library, Marg'a'ret, sep'a'rate *only in British English: military, ordinary, secondary, secretary, voluntary These words don't rhyme */æ/ vs. /eɪ/: anger - danger; amber - chamber */eɪ/ vs. /ə/: primate - climate Spelling anomalies *as '/e/: any, many, Thames *as '''/iː/: Israel *as /ʌ/: was *So-called long sound with short sound spelling, as /eɪ/: bass (music) Variant pronunciations *data /ˈdeɪtə, ˈdɑːtə, ˈdætə / *status /ˈsteɪtəs, ˈstætəs / *what /wɒt, wʌt / Combinations "ai" Main article: Decoding exercises: "ai" * as /eɪ/: *as /e/: again (also /əˈɡeɪn/), said ;"air" *as /eə/: air, affair, chair, fair, hair, pair "ay" Main article: Decoding exercises: "ay" * as /eɪ/: day, pay, play, May, say, stay, tray * as /e/: says "au" See main article Decoding exercises: "au" *as /ɔː/: auction, August, author, autumn, caught, cause, daughter, taught *as /ɒ/: Aussie, austerity, Australia, Austria *as /ɑː/ : aunt, draught, laugh "aw" *as /ɔː/: draw, law, raw, saw *"awy" as /ɔːj/ or /ɔɪ/: lawyer /ˈlɔːjər, ˈlɔɪər/ *In separate syllables :*aware, award "ae" Main article: Decoding exercises: "ae" * as /iː/ or /e/: aesthetic * as /iː/: Caesar, paediatrician * as /ə/: gynaecologist * as /eɪ/ or /iː/: sundae * as /eə/: aerobic, aeroplane "ar" :Main article: Decoding exercises: "ar"‎ */eə/ :with magic e: aware, bare, care, compare, dare, Delaware, fare, hare, rare, scare, share, spare, square :other: area, careful, Mary, parent, rarely, Sarah, vary *see As /ɑː/ above. */ɔː/: quarter, war */æ/: app'a'''rent, ch'a'racter, charity, comparison, p'a'ragraph, p'a'rallel */ə/: arise, around, career, cigarette, prep'a'ration "arr" :''Main article: Decoding exercises: "arr"‎ */æ/: barrier, carry, emb'a'''rrass, m'a'rriage, marry, n'a'rrative, narrow */ɒ/, /ɔː/ : warrant, warranty */ə/: '''a'rrange, arrest, arrive Homophones *As /eɪ/: brake - break; grate - great; male - mail; place - plaice; plane - plain; rain - reign; sale - sail; stake - steak; tale - tail; Wales - whales; waste - waist; weigh - way; weight - wait; weighed - wade; *As / /: bare - bear; hair - hare; pair - pear; stairs - stares; *As /æ/: ad - add; band - banned; cash - cache; *As /ɑː , æ /: passed - past; Only in non-rhotic accents: *As /ɑː/: aren't - aunt ;Trademarks *Waze - ways Different pronunciations in the same word *Africa/African, America/American, Australia/Australian, Austria/Austrian, average, character, language Anticipated pronunciation difficulties depending on L1 Spanish Many Spanish speakers will try, instinctively, to pronounce it either as /eɪ/ or as /ʌ/ (which is quite similar, but often not quite enough, to the letter a in Spanish). This is particularly problematic for words such as want, what or water or for the schwa. References See also *Decoding and spelling exercises: /æ/ vs /eɪ/ *Pronunciation exercises: /ʌ/ vs /æ/ *Decoding exercises: "al" *Decoding exercises: "ao" *Decoding exercises: "ar" *Decoding exercises: "arV" and "arrV" *Decoding exercises: "arr" *Decoding exercises: "ea" *Decoding exercises: "oa" *Decoding exercises: "wa" External links A A